Did you throw away your mail-in ballot?
Don’t freak out. Here’s what to do.
Supplemental Guidance for Voting by Mail in Texas in 2020
If you have applied to vote by mail, but have not received your mail-in ballot, then you may have concerns about whether your ballot will arrive in time or the application was ever received at all. Texas law lacks a satisfying remedy if the ballot never arrives, and does not provide ballot tracking for domestic voters.
This guidance is not legal advice. These are recommendations meant to maximize the probabilities that your mail-in ballot will arrive before the legal deadline.
October 5: While the legal deadline for an application to be RECEIVED is October 23, we do not recommend applying to vote by mail after October 5 for the November 3, 2020 General Election. The voter should make a plan to vote in-person.
October 13: If you applied before October 5, and have not received a mail-in ballot, then it is time to call your county election’s office to find out the status of your application and when a ballot will be mailed.
October 20: If your ballot arrives before October 20, then it will have more than two weeks to make it through the mail to your county elections office in time to be counted. The U.S. Postal Service recommends that voters mail their ballots at least a week before ballots are due. Our two-week recommendation is intentionally more conservative.
October 21: If a ballot arrives after October 20, then the voter should consider bypassing the U.S. Postal Service and delivering the mail-in ballot to your county elections office. You may deliver your mail-in ballot to your county elections office at any time before the polls close on election day if you have your voter ID. Your county elections office is the address written on the carrier envelope. Do NOT take any other voter’s ballot for them. It is a criminal offense. Each voter must personally appear and present your voter ID.
If you live a significant distance away from the county election office, then a voter may “surrender” the mail-in ballot and vote in-person. Take the mail-in ballot to your early voting location, then inform the election judge that you would like to surrender your mail-in ballot and vote in-person.
If at all possible, please deliver the mail-in ballot in-person or surrender and vote in-person before election day so you do not slow down the lines to vote.
November 3: If a ballot does not arrive by election day, then go in-person to your polling location, explain the situation to the election judge, refuse to leave until they have confirmed the situation with the county, and do not leave until you have at least voted provisionally.